The writer Quebecers of Haitian origin Dany Laferrière, following the attacks in Paris on Friday 13 November, paid tribute to Paris in a poem entitled "Paris 1983" inspired by one of his first stay in the French capital .

Paris 1983 :

"I walk

day and night

in Paris

for so long already

that I wonder

who lives in the other

always moved to know

that a poet named Villon

did it before me

that a liberator like Bolivar

stayed there in dandy

that my young neighbor Jean of the Masson Street

celebrated his twentieth anniversary until dawn

in a bistro opposite

of a small dimly lit square

I like to know that there exists a city

where women enjoy walking at night

without worrying shadows and also because there

is a metro station before tiredness.

I like to stroll in a town where the contrasting neighborhoods

Bloom after our dreams.

I like to stop at the cafe terrace

Observe the ballet of servers.

I love listening to conversations in the subway

Of young girls who tell the prior evening.

I like to see bare legs throughout the summer.

This lifestyle that no other city knows

better than Paris. And nobody has better sang than Villon and Aragon

Or this young girl cross on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir

who exclaimed : 'I broke the heel but I do not

care if it's in Paris'.

Here I am in the bathtub to read this time,

Paris is a feast of Hemingway

While saying me that it will always be, whatever happens."

Dany Laferrière

HL/ HaitiLibre